Just One Dance
by MariDuChat
Summary: Françoise Dupont is having a school dance, and Adrien worked up the courage to ask Marinette to be his date. Cute fluff Adrinette/Adrienette and Ladynoir moments!


Marinette turned the corner into the schoolyard sharply, hoping she arrived before the first bell, and ran smack into Adrien. Despite the surprise, Adrien grabbed her and pulled her into him, keeping her on her feet. Laughing, he looked down at her and said, "Hey, I'm getting good at this."

Marinette turned pink and stifled a giggle. Smoothing her hair behind her ear, she said down to her shoes, "I'm so sorry for running into you… again."

"I'm not sorry you did. I was looking for you, actually," he replied, taking a step back from her after making sure she was steady. He quickly shoved his hands in his pockets and cleared his throat. Marinette hadn't seen him look so flustered in a long time and tried to hide an involuntary smile by chewing her lower lip. Her gaze drifted to his eyes, sea green and bright with the morning sun shining through them. She loved the way the little lines at the corners of his eyes wrinkled slightly with each laugh, and the current small, nervous creases in his brow as he looked at her. She tilted her head slightly and took a small breath when his lips parted, and watched them move as he said something… said something….

She quickly snapped out of her reverie when she realized she hadn't heard a word he said. He stood there staring at her, a look of expectation and nerves on his face. "I'm so sorry, Adrien, I was lost in my thoughts. I didn't hear what you just said to me," she apologized, while chastising herself for being such an airhead. "Can you please repeat it?" Marinette caught Alya and Nino in the corner of her vision, waving at Adrien and silently cheering behind her.

Adrien gave a little chuckle and ran his hand through his hair. "Not making this easy," he mumbled, the corner of his mouth pulling up slightly. He took a deep breath. "I had just… I asked you… I mean, we danced so well at Chloé's party and... Uh, would you be my date for the school dance this weekend?" He clasped his hands behind his back, holding his breath.

Marinette had heard this time, and was so much in shock, she couldn't find the words to answer. Instead, she nodded furiously and grinned so wide she felt her cheeks seize up. Adrien let out his breath with relieved laughter. "Great!" he said. "Nino and Alya invited us to join them as a double date. Is that OK? I can pick you up at 8." Marinette could only continue to nod. At that moment, the school bell rang and Adrien waved as he left to join Nino and head inside. She watched him go, still nodding, when Alya ran up to hug her.

"Am I the best of best friends, or what!" Alya yelled at her, jumping and celebrating. "Nino and I worked it all out once we figured out neither of you had dates! You are so welcome. So we'll get ready at your house, right? Girl, this is going to be the best night of your life," Alya said as she slung her arm around Marinette's shoulders and lead her inside.

The night of the dance had finally arrived, and Alya ran home with Marinette after school to get ready together. "Ok, again," Alya coached, with a hot iron in her hand, wrapping her hair around it. Marinette turned and looked at her friend, one eye with mascara on, and the other bare.

"Good evening, Adrien. You look stunning," Marinette said confidently.

"Perfect! As for the rest of the evening, we don't have time for that, so you're on your own. Just, maybe do the opposite of what everyone says and _don't _make eye contact when you talk to him, yeah?" Alya laughed. "Now go finish your mascara before you forget. You look ridiculous."

"Utterly ridiculous!" the two BFFs finished together, giggling and falling over with giddiness. The two had had nothing to talk about except the dance all week. Marinette hadn't been so excited and nervous in her whole life. _This is the beginning of us, I can feel it, _she thought to herself, feeling confident she could spend the whole evening with Adrien without flubbing anything. She knew that nothing could put a damper on the night.

Until the akuma alert.

Marinette froze with her hand lifted to finish her mascara, the life completely gone from her eyes. She glanced at the clock and saw it was already 7:40. _Could I defeat the akuma and make it back in time for the dance? _she thought, trying to hold back the disappointment from her face as she turned to Alya. "Uh, Alya, I have to go real quick. Um, I just ran out of mascara and I need to run to the corner store and get some more."

Alya turned to her, her lips pursed and one brow raised. "Borrow mine," Alya said flatly, holding the tube out to her friend.

"Uh, it's… the wrong color," Marinette said, backing toward the door in her sweatpants with half of her makeup done. "I'll be quick!" she yelled as she ran down the stairs from her loft. "Alya is so going to kill me if I don't make it back in time," Marinette mumbled to herself. "And I'll do it for her if I miss my date with Adrien." Marinette stopped in the empty stairwell and sighed. "Ok, Tikki, spots on!" Without a moment's pause she was out the window and into the night.

At 8 sharp Alya was waiting impatiently at the front door of the bakery all ready to go, and trying to call Marinette for the tenth time. Nino walked in as the call went to voicemail and Alya hung up. "Marinette is MIA. I can't believe she got so nervous that she fled." Alya threw up her arms in frustration before crossing them angrily.

"Well, maybe it's for the best, actually…" Nino trailed off, scratching the back of his head. "I was on my way to get Adrien when he told me his dad changed his mind and said he can't go. He said he'd try to get out later and meet us there, but you and I both know how often that happens."

"Oh man. Marinette will be devastated," Alya said, the anger replaced with sympathy. "Well, maybe I should let her know. Let me leave one more message and then we can just go without them."

"What's wrong, M'lady? You seem extra stressed tonight," Cat Noir pointed out after Ladybug had flung her yo-yo at the villain and missed, again.

Letting out a frustrated growl, she yelled back, "Just, nothing! Can we please get this done! I have somewhere to be."

"I do, too. I'm trying to do my best. Your head seems elsewhere, is all," he replied, backflipping behind some cover as a set of nunchucks came flying at his head.

It was well past 8 at this point, and Marinette knew it was becoming less likely that she'd be able to make her date. _Adrien will think I stood him up and I don't have a good excuse! This is all ruined. _She let out another angry yell as she threw her yo-yo again unsuccessfully, then took cover next to Cat. She hung her head in her hands to take a breather and Cat patted her on the back. "Whatever you're missing must be pretty important. Can I help?"

"No, let's just try to figure this out. I think it's time for Lucky Charm!" she yelled out, calling her powers into action. Down flew an extra large, stretchy, sticky hand. The two stared at it for a second before Ladybug sprung up to fight again, flinging the sticky hand at the pair of nunchucks.

As soon as she released the cleansed akuma, she checked messages, seeing if Alya had given her an update. After skipping a few angry ones asking where the hell she was, she heard the update about Adrien not able to go out after all. Ladybug's face fell and she sat where she was and let out a big sigh. She was soon joined by Cat Noir, who took a comfortable seat next to her. "You can go," she said. "I have nowhere to be now, but I know you have important plans."

"I never leave a friend when they are obviously troubled. Are you sure I can't help?" he asked patiently.

Ladybug looked over and gave him a sad smile. "Well, it seems like my date canceled, so all that rush was for nothing." She let out a sigh, trying to push back her disappointment. "I was really looking forward to it."

"That's funny, I'm in a somewhat similar situation," Cat said to her looking off toward the city lights. "I was supposed to meet her tonight. I... I've kind of started falling for this girl…" he trailed off, fiddling with his ring.

Ladybug looked over in surprise. She couldn't quite place the feeling that hit her in the chest. She thought about it, staring at Cat Noir looking so forlorn, and realized it was a bit of jealousy.

"But I'm worried that having to take off suddenly might have hurt her too much. I hope she can forgive me. Anyway, I'm sorry. I just made it about me. You deserve better, M'lady. Was this _the_ guy?" he asked as he gave her a side hug.

"Yeah, actually, it was. But enough," she waved it off. "Tell me about this girl," she said, trying to ignore her heartbeat that had sped up. _C'mon, Marinette, Cat is allowed to move on. He should move on._

"I've known her for a long time, but some friends recently made me realize that she's pretty amazing," he replied, a dreamy look on his face. The look she sometimes saw on his face when he'd look at her.

"If she's that amazing, I know she'll forgive you for having to leave tonight," Ladybug reassured him. "And if she doesn't, tell me who she is and I'll take care of it."

"Ditto," Cat Noir flipped it back on her, and she laughed.

"Touché! Maybe try to reschedule and do something special for her. And tell her how much you mean to her," Ladybug suggested, knowing that he could be quite romantic when he really wanted to be. "I know you, and I know you are very sincere. She won't be able to resist."

"You know, that's a great idea," he responded, giving Ladybug a smile. "You do the same for your guy, ok?"

"I'm sure they'll love it, whatever we decide to do," Ladybug said, standing up and holding her hand out to her partner. "But, since we both missed our dates tonight, will you dance with me now? Just one dance."

Cat hopped up in a flash and pulled her body in close, placing one hand on her waist, and one in her right hand, "Of course, M'lady." And they began to sway together, spinning and twirling under the stars with the sound of the city acting as their music. Ladybug sighed and rested her head on his shoulder in the same way she had hoped to do with Adrien. If she couldn't have her secret love with her that night, one of her best friends was a pretty good substitute. And she realized her head did fit pretty well on Cat's shoulder.

Eventually he spun her out and gave her a bow, and she returned the courtesy with a curtsy. "You're a wonderful dancer, M'lady, and as long as you're sufficiently cheered, I think I'll be heading out."

"Of course, I'm fine. Until next time." He held his fist out for a parting bump, but she instead went in for a hug. He was stiff at first, but in a moment he relaxed and returned the hug warmly. "Thank you, Cat. You're a great friend. You deserve the best," she reassured him, flinging her yo-yo to a faraway building.

"I know the perfect thing to do for Marinette," Cat whispered back, watching Ladybug sail off into the night.

The next morning Marinette woke up to her phone ringing. She had a hard time clearing her blurred eyes and tried to rub the sleep away from them. When she noticed it was Adrien calling, she darted up in shock and reached for a glass of water, trying to strengthen her voice before answering. On the last ring she answered, "Hello! It's me! I mean, Marinette. I'm here," she silently cursed at herself and did a facepalm.

Adrien laughed on the other end of the line before saying, "Good morning. I want to apologize for not being able to go out last night. Can I make it up to you? Tonight, same time."

"I'd love to see you. I was actually planning on calling you this morning to ask the same thing." Marinette was already up and pacing in excitement, and after finishing the phone call, she texted Alya immediately.

"Nice! Now, don't run off this time! Tell me everything tomorrow!" came the response, and Marinette kept her fingers crossed that Ladybug could take the night off.

The sun floated across the sky even slower than usual until it finally set, and the clock hands lazily rested on 8:00. She was already waiting downstairs when Adrien arrived to pick her up. They walked together through the quiet streets, taking an idle stroll of their city. He lead her to André's ice cream cart and they shared an ice cream on the lover's bridge. Marinette felt very proud of herself for asking lots of questions, listening intently, and only flubbing a couple of sentences around him. She noticed how easily he smiled and laughed with her when it was just the two of them together.

After finishing the ice cream, Adrien held out his hand. "Since we didn't get a chance to dance last night, can I ask you for a dance now? Just one dance." Marinette smiled and took his hand. He pulled her in close, starting a song playing on his phone.

"Oh, I love this song," Marinette whispered, and started humming along. He imperceptibly pulled her closer and she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. As they swayed, she nestled her head in and thought of how perfect it felt, as if they were two puzzle pieces that were finally reunited. It was such a familiar feeling that her mind drifted to the night before and she instantly felt comfortable and relaxed.

"Marinette," Adrien whispered, pulling back slightly to look down at her face. She felt his fierce heartbeat through his shirt and tilted her face up to meet his gaze. "I really like you. You're a really special girl. And this just feels so..." and he trailed off, leaning his face closer to hers. Her own pulse started to race and she heard the blood rushing through her ears. The tips of their noses touched for a moment as they paused, working up the courage to complete the distance. Finally, it was Adrien who tilted his chin in, and let his lips softly meet hers. They stood together for a few seconds until he pulled away, looking into her eyes. She stared back for a moment, catching her breath, when she stood up on her toes to kiss him again.

The two were there together under the stars on the bridge for hours talking and snuggling on a bench until they realized it was way past curfew. They reluctantly parted and went home to dream of their first kiss, each thanking their superhero companions for the courage to make it all happen.


End file.
